If I were given the choice of seeing photos of sterile, solitary, scenery shots or seeing Betty, Terry and Russ being photographed enjoying said scenery ... guess which I would choose?

I just spent a half a day in our storage shed tossing lots of photos of scenery and keeping only those shots which featured people I loved and admired standing in front of scenery they really enjoyed traveling to just to see and experience the wonder of unexplored territory. It's people who make photos interesting, IMHO. Photos with people may not be art by your standards, but those photos certainly are art and then some by my standards.

You almost did not get an entry tonight as my book, Pillars of the Earth has consumed me. Page 389.

However, we departed St John’s, NL this morning with no mail. I left word at headquarters to call me when the packet arrived and I would have it returned to SD. Our drive of over 200 miles was beautiful. It climbed to 89 degrees and the scenery was that of high mountainous terrain with rocky cliffs. It remind us of Northern Idaho where glaciers had carved out valley filled with lakes and numerous ponds. Every turn revealed spectacular scenery of trees, lakes and skyline. We arrived at Gander just as we got the call from Pippy Park that our mail packet had arrived! Murphy!!!!

Gander is known as “The Crossroads of the World.” It gains it’s fame from the International airport located about ½ way from Major areas of North America and Europe. It’s reputation is fog free and it was one of the sites aircraft were landed when US airspace was closed on September 11, 2000. We visited the North Atlantic Aviation Museum in town to learn of the wonderful efforts contributed by the community when it’s population of 10,000 doubled in a few hours as aircraft were landed here . The school bus drivers were on strike and yet got into their busses to taxi stranded passengers to the local schools, Lions club and local homes for shelter. Wal-Mart gave toys to children who were on board planes that had been grounded. The teachers worked onto the early hours of the night after a day of teaching to provide blankets, shelter and comfort stranded passengers in their classrooms. The entire Province of Newfoundland was such as support and comfort to passengers in that terrorist moment. Talk about a village!!!

We also visited the Silent Memorial, a Monument dedicated to memorialize those soldiers of the 101St airborne who, having competed their mission in 1985 in the Sinai desert and were on their way home, crashed and perished. Terry was a Screaming Eagle so he was especially caught up in the memory. Talk about Fate.

We visited the Visitor Center and decided there is much to see and do here while we await our mail packet to be forwarded. We are so fortunate to be exploring this beautiful countryside.

If I were given the choice of seeing photos of sterile, solitary, scenery shots or seeing Betty, Terry and Russ being photographed enjoying said scenery ... guess which I would choose?

I just spent a half a day in our storage shed tossing lots of photos of scenery and keeping only those shots which featured people I loved and admired standing in front of scenery they really enjoyed traveling to just to see and experience the wonder of unexplored territory. It's people who make photos interesting, IMHO. Photos with people may not be art by your standards, but those photos certainly are art and then some by my standards.

Margi

No problem with photos of people for memories, but you must understand, my love is the landscape and I can rarely get enough of it.

You might go inside the airport terminal and talk to one or more of the security folks. Ask to see around the place and also tell them you're a 101st airborne (once 101st always 101st) and that their memorial moved you...thank them for it There is a 99% chance that they will take you on a behind the scenes tour.

I was not 101st but we did get the tour mainly because we knew the facts and thanked them for what they did on 9/11. They were moved by our thank you and happily surprised that we appreciated their efforts. The tour was very nice!

BTW, Gander was the test airport during the development of the British/French Concord.

Today we took a scenic drive recommended by a British Columbian minister tourist parked next to us last night. It is referred to as the “Loop” Road to the Shores, as it takes you through coastal communities from Gander Bay and around to Gander. Note to self. …Find out if route supports tourists. We did not pack a lunch and wish that we had as there were NO restaurants along the way except for the one we came upon that was called Lucky Chinese and Canadian food. We ate there out of desperation. It was 2 o clock and we were hungry. Never again! Right after we ate we found a few more restaurants that may have been more appealing. You never know.

The day was overcast and we hoped for sun at each photo op. As the day went on we found more and more picturesque scenes of Newfoundland. The tour book guided us in an exaggerated description of their destinations on a few occasions but mostly this was the scenery of movies! The countryside was not like any we had seen before in NL. Every cove and bay was littered with gigantic granite boulders. When wet with the waters of the bay they were the color of Moab dirt, (red) . This is definitely the country of former glaciers as the granite rocks have been placed neatly along the shores of each by nature.

In Newtown, the tour book said it was like a little Venice. Well we don’t think so but it did provide some of the most scenic villages we have seen.. The fishing industry is alive. We learned from asking a local that the lobster season is highly regulated by the government. The season is staggered by community. When in Newtown the season started in late May and had just ended but more north along the coast the lobster season has a few weeks to go. He offered us a chance to buy fresh lobster but we asked for a restaurant instead. He said, sorry there are no restaurants here. We already knew that. The Newfie language here is that clipped English, which sounds like an Irish brogue. It has glottal stops and is very hard to understand. But the folks could not be more friendly. Along a lonesome dirt road(not on the tourist trail but Terry will go anywhere his GPS has a road, ) we spotted two different iceberg s way offshore. My binoculars confirmed them as icebergs but out of photo range so you will just have to take my word for it.

We took scenery shots today and loved them all. We got our mail packet and can happily move on to Twillingate in the morning.

I know Terry was a Screaming Eagle and can only imagine what that museum meant to him. Once you have joined the Band of Brothers there's nothing like it. I hope he was impressed with their memorial.

Never having served in the "war" in Viet Nam I do ride with many of those that did. It is a humbling experience to see those that gave all that was asked and still support those that are now doing the same. I will continue to ride for all of our service personnel that are in harms way!

Tom what the article doesn't say, and I've been told many times was that the consensus of Newfoundlanders at the time was that they should be attempting to join the US. With all the American bases in NL there was much closer ties with the US than with Canada. But Joey was a strong believer in Canada, and that what was persued and happened.

Hfx_CD, On both of our trips to NF we found that the majority of folks we talked with said that the population preferred to join the US and they also said that today they wished they had. During WWII the US stationed 10,000 troops in NF to protect the undersea cable that was the lifeline between Roosevelt and Churchill. In 1939-1945 that was THE main communication link.

Betty, The churches throughout the area seemed to be built from the same basic set of plans. Note the similarities between the two photos I attached and your photo of a church. It's a great design! The stone church is in the Gaspe PQ and the white church was in Stephensville NF.

It has been a glorious day. I think this part of Newfoundland is the most scenic of any area I’ve ever visited ever with it‘s rustic beauty. Water, mountains, fishing harbors, islands offshore, blue sky . I keep saying wow, wow and wow again!

We traveled about 98 miles after our diesel fuel fill up. It cost $332.00 to top off. ( $5.98 per gallon) This was our first fill up that broke $300 and the tank was only ½ empty. But if you get what you pay for today was worth it. The countryside is mountainous but has rocky cliffs that melt into the sea peppered with tree filled small rocky islands. Twillingate is a narrow hilly island and has waterfront on all sides so in every direction we see beauty. It was a picture perfect day, warm and clear. Terry and I headed off to “the Mountain“, to view Spillers Cove, that we had been told we needed to climb to see an iceberg. However I thought we were going to lunch and only had on sandals for a very steep rocky and muddy hike. We climbed for almost 40 minutes to view magnificent ocean views and saw in the distance the iceberg. Binoculars would have helped and maybe tomorrow we will take a shorter hike out to the dump for a clearer view. While Terry had lunch of liver and onions I enjoyed two Quidi Vidi Honey Brown Beers ( a Newfoundland Beer) following the hike as I earned them.

We drove out to The Town of Crow Head to see Long Point Lighthouse, a commanding 300 feet above sea level. Then we scoped out the Seabreeze Municipal Park for camping. If we had a truck and camper this would be on top of the world with the best views but would not work for our motor home. We enjoyed the vistas and took more photos. While we were on this photo mission Russ was on his own and stopped at a colorful local fishing dock and the owner invited him in for a personal tour for which he had to pay! (he grumbles)

The topper of my day was the entertainment we chose to attend tonight. Seven women have joined a group called “The Split Peas.” They have been performing traditional Newfoundland songs for 15 years. For the mere cost of $10 admission I was entertained, inspired amused and awed at the talent of these women. They asked if we knew about mummering? We did not so they explained a tradition here on the Island ( as Newfies refer to their home) Costumed people knock on doors and the people give them drinks and try to guess who they are. Terry was mummerd in tonight as one of the ladies in an ugly costume chose to dance with him . He was a great sport and danced the night away with her. At intermission we snacked on a local tradition of Toutons and Tea. What is that you ask? Well so did I. It is actually a piece of fried bread about the size of a flat bagel. We smothered it in a jam and it was delicious. We were told that calories consumed out side of your own province, if you are Canadian , do not count. We were further told that if you consume those calories outside of your own country, they are subtracted, so I shall be thinner by eating this fried bread!

The show was fantastic. I left wanting more but good news is we attend a dinner show tomorrow night with more local entertainment.

Thanks for the great shots Betty and Terry. Sounds like you had a real good day.

I posted another 15 shots of Schoodic Peninsula here in Maine. We head across the border into New Brunswick on Monday. Temperatures here the last several days have been in the mid-80's. We have been using the A/C in the car.

You probably mentioned this in one of your earlier posts, so sorry for the duplication; but could you tell me what their (NL) winter weather is like? Is it like Alaska where you need to be heading home by some point. What amounts of snow do they get and how cold? I'm just interested, no particular reason. I just noticed that the roof lines are very steep; and I wondered if that is because of the amount of snow they get.

Tim and I are so excited to be going next year. We just received the information about the location of the second of our neices' weddings. It's right on the bay on Manitoulin Insland in a town called Mindemoya. It looks really nice. That will be the beginning of our Canadian trip. After than we head to the Maritimes.

Donna and I were married in Sudbury ON, about an hour's drive from Manitoulin Island, it is a very pretty but rustic area, with much of it unspoiled wilderness. As for NL weather, it goes the gamut. Labrador, and the far reaches of the Northern Peninsula (Where the Viking Village is located) would have similar weather to Alaska, but you won't likely head to Labrador as you can't take the coach, but there is a car ferry, that gives you access to about 20 - 30 miles of dirt road, the main road access to Lab City is via Sept Isles Quebec, where you turn north and drive 700 miles on a bolder highway. Western and Central NL get reasonably tough winters, say like Minnasota, but the Avalon where St John's is located would be much to same as say Boston or NY, occasional snow, rare winters with lots(and last year was one, even though it all came March). All of the Maritimes, or eastern Canada for that matter have great fall foliage. Let me know if I can add anything else to answer your queery.

We're so happy that you're seeing some icebergs, even though they're small. There were not any in 2006 and we were disappointed in that. Also you got a great photo of some fishing rooms. Isn't it just so picturesque?!? I thoroughly understand the wow, wow, and wow!

Donna and I were married in Sudbury ON, about an hour's drive from Manitoulin Island, it is a very pretty but rustic area, with much of it unspoiled wilderness. As for NL weather, it goes the gamut. Labrador, and the far reaches of the Northern Peninsula (Where the Viking Village is located) would have similar weather to Alaska, but you won't likely head to Labrador as you can't take the coach, but there is a car ferry, that gives you access to about 20 - 30 miles of dirt road, the main road access to Lab City is via Sept Isles Quebec, where you turn north and drive 700 miles on a bolder highway. Western and Central NL get reasonably tough winters, say like Minnasota, but the Avalon where St John's is located would be much to same as say Boston or NY, occasional snow, rare winters with lots(and last year was one, even though it all came March). All of the Maritimes, or eastern Canada for that matter have great fall foliage. Let me know if I can add anything else to answer your queery.Ed

Thank you, Ed for that post as I would not have been able to answer it. I love the Forum's expertise and experience and that we are willing to share. Betty

Betty, when are you coming back to the mainland? Have you plans to meet up with Jeff & Sue, who I think hit NB next week. We're still at the cottage in Shediac having, in a fit of youthful exuberance, undertaking a major fix up, the latest is a new kitchen. We're trying to have it all done for the 1st week end of August, when we have 22 family members here for a function. By the next week end, we should be back in RV made, and maybe catch up with a few of you. I don't know your timing, but you've only scratched the surface of NB, and seen nothing of NS or PEI. You need to see Fortress Louisburg, The Cabot Trail, and the Bras D'Or Lakes while in Cape Breton, the the Eastern and South Shores of NS, with a few days in Halifax. And every visit to the Maritimes requires a couple of days (or more) on PEI, Canada's smallest, but densest Province.

Betty, when are you coming back to the mainland? Have you plans to meet up with Jeff & Sue, who I think hit NB next week.

Ed, We have reservations on the Ferry to return to North Sydney on July 31. At that time we hope our paths will cross with Jeff and Sue and Ron and Shirley. We then plan to spend the month of August touring as many of the places you mentioned as possible. We hope to look you up near end of August. Betty

Our first venture of the day was to visit Prime Berth Fishing Museum. It looked really hokey outside with a fake whale tale in the bay and dummies in boats. For a mere $5 per person we got a most informative presentations about cod fishing as it as was back when. Bill was our guide and he told of being a lad of 8 years old and his job was to throw the fish up on the table for the elders to gut, clean, de-bone them to ready them for the salt drying process. He used a live codfish to demonstrate the process. EWWWWW the smell. He further pointed out the bucket of cod liver oil from which all of us “old timers have had a taste.” When cod was processed the livers were kept and sold to the pharmacies that was the only cash crop a fisherman received. Most other payments for their toils of the year by fishing were made on credit and exchanged at years end for the supplies used. Not many got ahead. What a hard life. They had no Wal-marts, or Cabellas to turn to for anything. They wove their own nets from cotton as it gets more strength when wet than any other natural fiber. They repaired nets in winters and spun needles of yarn to be ready for the repair in the evening. Bill was our guide and is a retired 5th grade teacher. His accent is very Irish and he was very knowledgeable. It was like listening to a story teller. It was in 1966 that the cod fish moratorium came into place which regulated the entire fishing industry and it surely stopped the economics of the area. Now commercial fishing only has a 6 week season from late May to mid June. If he wanted to go out and fish, he would have a five fish a day limit. Nets are no longer allowed. All fish with hooks and jigs.

While there is no biblical reference that says one must not eat meat on Friday, The Pope made such an edict to benefit the fishing industries . Consider please that, I’m not a theological historian, I just report what I heard in tourist venues. I really enjoyed the information Bill showed us about how “the rooms” were used to prepare fish in their day, before refrigeration.

Now in our car in search of lunch, Terry wanted a lobster shack for an authentic fresh lobster lunch. We happened on one and selected the lobster from a pool of hundreds. Russ and I had lobster sandwiches and then waited while Terry devoured the whole thing after we watched it being cooked.

I heard a squeaking sound that sounded like rusty door hinges and upon investigation saw 2 small critters. Russ and Terry photographed them and we later learned they were wild mink who rarely come to this section of the shore. So now we have lobster lunch in the sun, with a mink showing ! Can life get any better? We continued our drive thought many arms of this seashore. The names of each little cove and outlet are wonderful. We visited Too Good Arm, Herring Neck, Virgin Arm, Pine Cove Point to name a few. There were no grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants or anything in these little villages. Just scenic vistas . Wow and Wow. I had brought my own chips for snack in the car just in case.

We headed back to town hoping to see the iceberg from the dump road. However we learned from tourists on the road it was not there. Not to be believed and we have a 4 wheel drive after all, we ventured on. At the dump site, a local informed us the berg had broken in two in the late evening and tumbled over out of view, much to our dismay and even more to the chagrin of the tour boats going out to view it. Moral of this, make haste while you can! We were happy to have seen the glimpse yesterday!

Off to the Dinner show…..We dined at the local Community Center and watched the Circle Dinner Theatre perform. It did not compare to last night’s show but the comedy gave a good laugh, we got to sing along and the couples at our table were delightful. Many of the tourist in this area are from Ontario. The sky tonight rivaled an Arizona sunset. It was hues of pink and more pink and deep pink and encircled the entire horizon. None of us had a camera.

Thanks for the info, Ed. It seems like the weather in the Maritimes is much like the states...varied.

We have actually been to Manitoulin Island a couple of years ago; but we did not take the coach onto the island. We crossed into Canada at Peace Bridge <?> near Buffalo then stayed close to Sudbury while we toured around. From that point we headed west back across Canada and crossed back into the States at Vancover. It was a great trip; except for a hawk that flew into our coach driver's side window and shattered it. We had to wait in Edmonton for 2 weeks to get the replacement from the states. We became very acquainted with Edmonton. They have great "off leash dog parks".

Marsha, the weather in Atlantic Canada kind of reminds me of what we were told about Hawaii, because of the water, currents, mountains an d location; it is variable. The old saying in NS is that if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes and it will change. We catch weather patterns that come east across Norht America, and we catch weather that comes up the eastern seaboard from the Caribbean. And rarely 2 storms meet over us, hence the plot of the "Perfect Storm" movie. The bottom line is we "bitch" about it, make jokes about it, but we don't get upset when it isn't to our liking. Having said that if you have a choice, the time to come east is after mid June through to mid October. In fact September early October is my favourite time to travel here, unles you're looking for a beach vacation.

That lobster looks scrumptious! I tend to prefer the smaller 1-1.25 pounders to the 2 pounders. The smaller ones seem more tender and flavorful. Anyway, I'm jealous! I gorged on cod while up there. It was absolutely wonderful! We seldom get real cod - I've heard it's usually pollock in the U.S. - and the real stuff is teriffic!

We toured the Durrell Museum perched at the top of a hill with a 360 degree view overlooking Twillingate. We saw the exact Polar Bear who had the misfortune to venture into town on March 6, 2000 and got too close to civilization. He is now stuffed for tourists to enjoy as a permanent memorial to a rare visit and now with no risk. We also toured the St Peter’s Anglican church and noted how beautifully the stain glass windows light the church. On the hill just above was a very nicely done Twillingate Museum depicting the heydays of this community. The gem of the day was when exiting the museum Terry took a dirt road that led behind the hillside and overlooked the cemetery and farther down overlooked another magnificent sparking blue bay. The water sparkled as if someone had sprinkled fairy dust on it. It was awesome. Russ and I tasted the wines at the Auk Island winery, who make wines from the local fruit. I bought two bottles of Rhubarb wine and one of cherry we passed on the discount by the case but will enjoy this light wine! It was beautifully done and they offer lobster suppers with live music but we are out of nights . Tonight we returned to see the solo act of Ada Piercy-Jenkins who was in the Split Pea group we saw a couple of days ago. Her show was oozed with musical passion and powerful lyrics. (An accurate description from her flyer) We bought both of her CD’s.

I spoke to a local artist, Randy Hann, while browsing his shop. He asked me about my accent. I was a little startled as I never ever figured I had an accent. Well I do here! We talked about all of the people he meets and he can hear the accents and dialects in all kinds of the common language we share called “English,” but pronounced in so many ways. He told me how proud Newfoundlanders are of their land. He said yes they are patriotic Canadians and glad to be a part of Canada but that they are different. They are fiercely loyal to NL. He compared Newfoundlanders to hillbillies, remote, hearty, love of nature, love of isolation (non big cities) . He said, We are one of a kind.” I noted that he had blue eyes. I can’t believe how almost every person I’ve seen in Newfoundland has blue eyes. Talk about genetic heritage showing up over and over. The dialect sound so very Irish to me. With my Irish background , I’m very intrigued by the sound of the words.

As with all good trips some are days of rest. Today we did chores, laundry and listened to Ada’s CD’s. We laughed to learn we could have purchased her CD’s from I-tunes for $9.99. We paid $20 for them at her concert last night.

We left Twillingate this morning with sadness. It has been a beautiful stay. I found the Newfoundland spirit! But onward!

We are following the general direction that some of the caravans take and today was a prime example of a reason to take a caravan. The caravan trips, in this place, include a tour of the crab plant via a ferry ride, a tour of a mussel farm , a meal prepared by locals and a Screech in Ceremony. None of this was available to us, despite our search. The camp ground is a beautifully renovated city park with a huge overflow area designed for caravans. It is only $18 a night for water and elec. All good but no internet. None in town either! So we opted to stay only one night and got our money back for the second planned night with no problem. Terry and I drove out to the Kingsbury Point that includes the infamous Kingsbury pottery. None of it was my style nor in my price range so we moved on to view the Rattling Brook Falls. The falls were narrow and 800 feet high. The spectacular thing about them was that I survived the climb of stairs to see them. The view from the top was fantastic . We checked out the ferry that was a dirt lot with a dirt ramp to “somewhere.” We asked a local and he described what we might find on the Little Bay Island, but I could not understand a word of his “English.” The roads and country side around here is nothing spectacular at all. There are coves but they are not memorable at all like those we have seen before. Maybe we are getting spoiled.

The Little Indian Falls are right in our campground. They boast that they are the only falls in NL that you can actually find Atlantic Salmon swimming up the falls to spawn. We watched fly fisher people and yearned for a look at a salmon. We saw only lovely water over large boulders.